


Hide and Seek

by Green_Arrows_of_Karamel (Mare9548)



Series: Blood and Vengeance:  A Bratva Tale [2]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe, Angst, Attempted Murder, Bratva Oliver Queen, Child slavery, Gen, Human Trafficking, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Minor Character Death, Side Story, Side story for Savin' Me, angsty angst, physical child abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-13
Updated: 2016-08-13
Packaged: 2018-08-08 05:44:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,330
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7745500
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mare9548/pseuds/Green_Arrows_of_Karamel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Oliver's life is utterly destroyed once more, when the past catches up with him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hide and Seek

**Author's Note:**

> Well my lovelies,
> 
> Most of you know this, but for who come across this independently, I tell you that this is the first side story for my Bratva fic "Savin' Me". You should read this after reading the chapter 7 of the main story.
> 
> Also, I need to warn you that in contrast to the chapter 7, which I'm sure leave all good feels, this story definitely will not. This is pure and absolute, heartbreaking angst.
> 
> I should say sorry, but.... I'm not! So here you go.
> 
> Oops! Happy reading seems not appropriate for the occasion. Oh well!

He pulled tighter the scarf around his neck as the biting cold wind hit his face. The winter that year was being merciless. But Oliver was used to the cold by now. Living with very little for over four years had toughened him up. He was well aware of how lucky he had been, despite of the tragedy in his past. He would be dead by then, if it wasn’t because a man had taken him in and taught him all he needed to survive on his own.

The first time he woke up after being shot and left for dead in an alley, he found himself surrounded by strangers. He couldn’t understand what they were saying. All he knew was that they weren’t talking in Russian, and much less in English. By their features, Oliver assumed they were Chinese. Naive as he was, Oliver thought they wanted to help him. But it didn’t take him too long to realize that it wasn’t the case.

Having only nine years old, Oliver couldn’t even imagine that he had fallen into the hands of human traffickers. In the best case, he was going to be sold only God knows what heinous purpose. But most likely, he was going to be killed for his organs. In the meantime, they kept him like an animal. Starving and locked up most of the time. They beat him every time he did something they didn’t like, even if it that was only to look any of them directly in the eyes. They only let him out of the tiny room where they kept him to force him to clean their messes. Sometimes was only the area where his captors hang out, but others Oliver had to clean a room that seemed to be an improvised operating room bathed in blood. By instinct, Oliver studied the people who had him for months. He learned their patterns, their strengths, and weaknesses. He was too little to fight them. So, he waited for the perfect opportunity to escape. On the run, he crashed into the man who would be his salvation.

Yao Fei, and his daughter, Shado, took Oliver to safety and took take care of him. They had taken him in and treated him like family. He was wary of them at first, but eventually they became the only two people in his world that Oliver trusted. He had lost his father, mother, and sister, but he found in Yao Fei a paternal figure. Someone he could count on.

“ _Stop being lazy_ ,” Shado chided in Mandarin as she paused at the door of a small and discreet store. He had fallen behind, distracted by his reverie. “ _Hurry up. Let’s buy the herbs and go home. My father is waiting_.”

“ _I’m coming_ ,” he replied her in Russian. Both of them were fluent in either language. However, Oliver always talked in Russian when were other people around. He had his share of contempt and scorn for being a foreigner, so he tried to blend in as much as possible. He knew he was a wanted man by the Bratva. He had heard the stories for years. He knew all about the extensive search for Robert Queen’s son. No doubt, they wanted him to finish the job of killing him, as they did with his parents. He wasn’t making them easy to find him. Not after all those years effectively avoiding their radar.

He ventured to the belly of the Bratva territory only when it was absolutely necessary. Like that morning. The apothecary where he and Shado were at was in downtown Moscow. An irony that wasn’t lost to him. A Chinese herbalist located in middle of the Russians territory instead of being in the Triad domain.

Not that over there would be safer for them. The Triad had a price for Yao Fei, and therefore for Shado’s, head. That was why Oliver, Yao Fei, and Shado lived in a small apartment located in no one’s land, a reduced area of a few blocks radius located at the outskirts of Moscow. The zone was the border separating the grounds controlled by the brotherhood and the playground for the Chinese triad.

In spite of that, the last three years had been relatively stable for him. Almost happy. They weren’t easy in the least; every day was a battle for survival. Yet Oliver wasn’t a scared spoiled little boy anymore. Not a man yet, but he knew he could take care of himself. He wasn’t going to be a victim ever again.

But all good things come to an end. Oliver knew that it would happen one day, but never that it was going to be so soon. He and Shado were getting out of the apothecary, when they ran into a group of teen boys. Oliver apologized and kept walking. But someone calling his name made him paused.

“ _Oliver… my friend, is that you_?”

He didn’t recognize the voice talking in Russian. Yet, Oliver’s blood ran cold. Nobody called him that, not anymore. In the streets, he was known as Jonas. Whoever calling him knew him from before. His heart thumped wildly in his chest while he fought the wave of fear that seized him.

He knew he should have kept walking and act as he was deaf, but astonishment overrode his survival instinct. As soon as he turned around, he cursed inwardly. “You have to leave,” he said to Shado in Mandarin. His voice colored by heavy urgency. “Go, now!”

“ _What?! Why_?”

“ _Shado, please. Get outta here_!”

She gave him a killer glare. He knew that look, which only meant that he was about to receive a scolding about how he didn’t need to overprotect her, something he did in occasions. She could take care of herself as much as he did. In fact, much better. But his concern wasn’t because he doubted her ability to fight. She had kicked his ass too often while they sparred to think that.

His concern came from the presence of the two grown men who were accompanying the group of teenagers. Mutual recognition hit in an instant. Those men were the ones who had tried to kill him years before. They killed his mom and dad. It was too late for him to run; they knew for sure he was alive. But Shado had an opportunity to get away. Being with him only would make her a target. He loved her like a sister and the last thing he wanted was she getting hurt because of him.

“ _Take the herbs to your father. He needs them. I can handle this. Okay?_ ”

She wasn’t happy about leaving him alone, but Oliver knew that playing Yao Fei’s card would convince her to go. The harsh weather had compromised her father’s health. According to what she had said, those rare herbs, which only could be found in a remote island in the North China Sea called Lian Yu, were capable of curing most diseases and poisons. They would cure Yao Fei’s persistent pneumonia. “If you’re not back with us in an hour, I’ll come for you,” she warned him.

“ _I might take longer than that, but I’ll get there, eventually_ ,” he said, looking at her sideways. “ _Promise_.”

She gave him a curt nod and walked away. Once she put more distance between them, Oliver finally put all his attention to the group in front of him.

A boy, the same who spoke before and looked somewhat familiar to Oliver, stepped forward looking at him with curiosity. He spoke in broken English and with a heavy accent, “Oliver, you remember me? I Pabiyan. I, friend.”

The thick and nostalgic wave that washed over Oliver almost made him crumbled. Now he could recognize the features of the boy. Some part of him wanted to run and hug his old friend. He needed to feel the connection with all the good things he had before. Family and friends. When he knew nothing but happiness.

He knew better, though. Pabiyan might have been his friend as a child, yet now he was with the killers of his parents.

Oliver schooled his facial expression and spoke in perfect Russian, “ _You’re wrong. I’m not who you say I am_.”

“ _Of course you are_ ,” Pabiyan insisted, his tone coming a tad petulant and his features twisting in confusion. “ _We’ve been looking for you. Some people thought you were dead, but I never stop hoping you were alive. Not once in all these years. You can come home now_.”

Pabiyan might have wanted that, but the killers didn’t. Their stony faces became more sinister, just hearing the boy’s suggestion. Their hands fidgeted as if they were eager to grab the guns Oliver was sure they had concealed. It was easy for Oliver to guess what they were thinking. Those men wouldn’t let him get home. They were going to kill him in the first chance they got. Oliver was surprised that they hadn’t drawn their guns out already and shoot him right there.

Oliver got the odd feeling that perhaps the kids didn’t know what the adults had done in the past and the killers wanted to keep it that way. A weird fact that he could use in his advantage.

“ _Sorry. I’m gonna go now_ ,” he turned around and walked away. He put one foot in front of the other with steady determination. What he wanted was to run and disappear. Yet, a hasty retreat would only make things worse. It would make him look scared and weak. Oliver paid no heed to call of Pabiyan, who by the sound of it, was trying to escape the hold of his friend to go after Oliver.

“Oliver! _Vozvrashchat’sya_!“ Pabiyan pleaded him to come back, finally free of the hands holding him back.

But Oliver had a good lead ahead of Pabiyan and it was easy for him to get lost in the crowd. Yao Fei had schooled him well how to disappear in plain sight. First, he got rid of his jacket. He took a new one from a distracted man, and left his own as an apology. Yao Fei had also imprinted on him that there was no shame in doing whatever you needed to survive. As long as you had no ill intent. Theft and killing weren’t out of the question. Not when the price of refraining yourself was your life. But taking pleasure when you did those things was what was wrong.

As soon as he could, Oliver went to higher ground. Pabiyan had lost track of him, but still was looking for him. Lingering too close to his hideout, making impossible for Oliver to leave the area. Even when Oliver lost the sight of them from time to time, the hairs in the neck were standing, as a warning to being chased. Being on the roofs of a building gave him an advantage point and better hide place that on street level. Still, he wasn’t out of the woods yet.

Oliver had to give to his old friend that he was persistent. It passed more than two hours for the group to finally accept defeat. Two hours, in which Oliver had adrenaline pumping through his veins, keeping him in high alert. He sagged against the wall after he watched the group get in super luxurious and extra secure SUVs and drove away. In his mind, he heard over and over again the argument that Pabiyan had with his father. The old man came in one of the vehicles.

“ _It was him, dad_!,” he assured him. “ _You always said that it was a childish to believe he was alive. Now I can prove you I was right all along._ ”

“ _Enough, son!_ “ the tone of the older man left no room for argument. “ _I’m tired of having this conversation over and over again. I’ve indulged you long enough. You’re going home–_ ”

“ _But, dad!! Why don’t you believe me_?!”

Even at several floors up, Oliver could see in the face of Pabiyan’s father the exasperation and the love for his son. “I do believe you. But you aren’t finding him here. If he managed to escape our attention all these years, he knows how to disappear. I’m sure he’s long gone by now.”

Ha! Oliver wanted to scuffed at that.

“ _I promise you we’ll find him. But we need help. And we need to tell the Pakhan about this. We go home and when we get there, I’ll alert the brigades to keep an eye open looking for him. We will find him_!”

The certainty in that statement frightened Oliver. They’d never stop looking for him. In that instant, he realized what he needed to do. Otherwise, he was as good as dead.

As soon as he got to what he had called home the last three years, he went to his room and started packing his meager belongings.

“What are you doing?!"

Oliver stiffened when he heard Shado's voice from the door. He knew that she, who had become more a sister than a friend, wouldn't be happy with his decision. Neither would be her father. Still, he was determined to carry it out. "I’m leaving," he said, without looking at her.

She came forward and grabbed his hands to stop his packing, "Oliver, you can't. Where would you go?"

He pulled his hands from Shado's grasp and fixed her with his eyes, hoping she could see that there was nothing she could do to change his mind. "I don't know, but I can't stay here. They're looking for me and they're gonna kill me when they find me. After all the things you and your father have done for me all these years, the least I can do is keep the danger away from you. Those men will kill you both if I'm with you."

"Who are those men? Why are you so scared?"

He wanted to deny that truth, but couldn't. He was afraid. Not as much for him as for them. He put the last clothes he got inside his backpack and zipped it close, saying, "They killed my mom and dad. I remember their faces. They know I'm alive and they want to finish the job."

"More reason to stay. Father and I, we can protect you!"

Oliver shook his head. Shado wasn't thinking clearly. It wouldn't be just a couple of guys after him. It was the entire muscle corps of the Bratva. A grown man and two teenagers weren't a match for that. He hunkered down to take out a long box that was under his bed. He opened and took out a quiver full of arrows, and the longbow that Yao Fei had made for him. Those were his most precious things he had.

"No, you can't," he said, strapping the quiver on his back. Grabbing the bow and the backpack, he started to walk away, but Shado pulled him to a stop.

"Oliver—"

"Daughter, give us a moment."

Both of the startled as Yao Fei went in the room. He paused to kiss Shado's brow, “ _Xièxiè_ ,” he whispered to her, before she left them alone. Then, he stood in from of Oliver, sizing him not like a small child but as the man that he was becoming. Oliver was glad to see the man looking better than how he saw him last in the morning. It appeared that those herbs were truly magical, if it worked so fast.

"If leaving Moscow it's what you want, I won't stop you,” Yao Fei told him. “Life has been hard on you and you're not a child anymore, Oliver. You're far mature for your young age and you're wise enough to know what's best for you. But know this," Yao Fei put his hand on his shoulder and squeezed it slightly, emphasizing his following words, "You go, and Shado and I will be behind you.

"I watched you struggle, when first we took you in. You didn't even trust your own shadow. But then, you began to let us in your heart as we let in you in ours. You became family. You are as much her brother as you’re my son. I won’t let you leave alone.”

Oliver gripped his bow tighter until his knuckles were white, fighting the raw emotion overwhelming him. He almost gave in to the desire to run into Yao Fei arms and cry like a baby. Deep down, he didn’t want to leave. He didn’t want to abandon his home. Yao Fei had spoken the truth. He had truly become like a father to Oliver. Yet, the sadness for leaving the only heaven he had known, since his life went to hell four years before, was much less strong than the pain of risking the only family he had left.

He already had lost his parents and a sister. He wasn’t going to stay and watch how he lost another parent and sibling. He was scared, but also angry. His soul was screaming for vengeance. He wanted to kill those men. Yet this was real life and not a movie, where he was the protagonist. This wasn’t an epic story of how he hurdled obstacles until he got justice for his parents.

He had no delusions about that. Not yet. If he survived a few more years, then perhaps, it’d be a different story.

“I can’t ask you to do that,” Oliver said, his voice trembling with emotion.

“You’re not asking, I’m telling you. I’m not letting you go alone. We should–”

Whichever was Yao Fei suggestion, it got cut off by a loud thud of someone crashing into the small apartment through the front door, followed by Shado’s battle cry. The sound of windows shattering echoed as more people swarmed in. Oliver’s stomach sunk to the floor. They had found him.

Oliver would never forget how his life was destroyed for a second time by the same bastards. Following Yao Fei and with his bow on hand, Oliver walked into the living room to find one of the men yanking Shado to a stop by her long braided hair. As she screamed in pain, he knocked an arrow on his bow and let it go. Aim true, the arrow hit the man on the shoulder. The surprise and the pain of it made the man lose his grip on her, which Shado didn’t waste time taking advantage of. Once freed, she turned around and kicked the guy in the crotch, making him double up and grunt in pain.

There was no time to celebrate or be proud of her. As soon as the others noticed his presence, it was open season for him. Someone yelled ‘kill the boy’ and a shower of bullets came pouring in his direction. He shot more arrows hitting more men, but not as precise as he’d have liked. He had a great aim, but it wasn’t the same hitting the bullseye when it shot back at you. Yao Fei had taken out more men too, but they keep coming for them. Shado and Yao Fei came to realize what Oliver already knew. There was no way to win that fight. It was then that Yao Fei ordered them to escape. He’d follow them.

The sense of déjà vu was so strong. It was happening all over again. He was being hauled away by Shado, meanwhile her father stayed behind giving them an opportunity to escape. And just as Robert Queen had done four years before, Yao Fai also paid the grand price of his life in exchange for the lives of his children.

And Oliver was left again with his life in utter destruction. In pain and with a growing and all-consuming hunger for cold vengeance. This time he would survive with the only purpose of avenging his family. A dark purpose that he carried as a protective blanket over his shoulders for years to come.

 

**Author's Note:**

> First, a small language lesson. According to Google translate...
> 
>  _ **Xièxiè**_ is Chinese for 'thank you'  
>  _ **Vozvrashchat’sya**_ is Russian for 'Come back'
> 
>  
> 
> Second, you can find me on Tumblr (Where I am most of the time and I usually post sneak peeks from time to time as I write). Find me here -->> [stygian-omada-fan.tumblr.com](http://www.stygian-omada-fan.tumblr.com). There's a section on my blog where I annonce in what I'm working on at the moment and what's coming up. I'm also on Twitter as [@Olicity_fics](http://www.twitter.com/Olicity_Fics). At either site, you can come and talk to me about anything and everything. I don't bite, promise.


End file.
